Richard James Copeland

Open government advocates start 2022 ballot drive

Richard James Copeland died on February 9, 2021 at the age of 90 from old age. He is survived by his wife Audrey Copeland , and his Five daughters and , Seven grandchildren and, four great-grandchildren.

Richard grew up in the Bronx of New York and was able to spend his summers on Long Island. He loved the Boy Scouts and eventually became a leader of troop 757. They had a lot of fun hiking and camping at Watkins Glen and the Adirondack mountains. He joined the army and worked in the cancer ward of Walter Reed Hospital as an x-Ray technician. He graduated from Duke University with a degree in economics. After graduation he married Audrey in the Duke University Chapel. He then made a career with The Insurance Company of North America (INA) that later became known as Cigna. He loved outdoor adventures and traveling. He lived in Detroit for the last 54 years. He is a beloved husband and father and friend. He is dearly missed by all. God Bless him. A toast and raise the parting glass. May God Bless us all.

LANSING – Advocates for open government said Monday that they will launch a 2022 ballot drive to subject Michigan’s governor and Legislature to public-records requests.

Michigan is one of just two states that wholly exempt the governor’s office and is among eight states where lawmakers are explicitly exempt. Bills to end the exemptions from the 1976 Freedom of Information Act have stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate despite having won widespread bipartisan support in the GOP-led House in 2016, 2017 and 2019.

Lonnie Scott, executive director of the liberal advocacy group Progress Michigan, said the “people of Michigan deserve accountable and transparent government.”

The organization will announce further details in mid-March, timed for Sunshine Week – a period intended to highlight the importance of open-government policies. Advocates will need to collect about 340,000 valid voter signatures to initiate legislation or roughly 425,000 signatures to propose a constitutional amendment.

“Every year, it’s the same story. Bills with good intentions that don’t go quite far enough, and include ludicrous carveouts for the Legislature in an effort to bribe Republicans to support them, slowly die on the vine because of a lack of political will or commitment to real transparency in the Legislature,” Scott said. “The public is sick of it and we’re done playing games.”

The legislation that received unanimous House approval two years ago would have removed a specific exclusion of the governor and lieutenant governor from FOIA requests. But various records and information would be exempt, including those related to gubernatorial appointments; pardons and commutations; budget recommendations and spending cuts; the executive residence; constituent communications; and information or records subject to executive privilege.

Legislative exemptions would have mirrored those that other public bodies can claim, including for communications and notes of an advisory nature unless the public interest in disclosure clearly outweighs the public interest in encouraging frank communications. Unlike with other FOIA requests, however, people seeking legislative records could not have gone to court. A legislative administrator’s appeal decisions would have been final.

The protection from lawsuits and the addition of numerous exemptions to exclude gubernatorial and legislative information from public disclosure drew criticism at the time, but advocates still called the bills a good step forward. Legislation for the new two-year session could be introduced this week.

If Progress Michigan won certification for an initiated measure, it would go the legislators. They could enact the bill into law or let it go to voters in November 2022. If the group successfully pursued a constitutional amendment, it would automatically be placed on the ballot.

TAMPA, Fla. — Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler was getting heckled by fans when he entered the game in the seventh inning as a pinch hitter.

And then, they started cheering for him. That’s because the 22-year-old — without a professional game under his belt — dropped in a double. Yet Dingler’s memorable at-bat wasn’t enough to pull the Tigers back into the contest, as they lost, 5-4, to the New York Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Monday in the second Grapefruit League game of spring training.

With Zack Short standing on third base, a wild pitch from Albert Abreu allowed him to score and Dingler to advance to third. Already having two strikes, Rule 5 draft pick Akil Baddoo grounded out to shortstop to end the seven-inning game.

The Tigers travel to LECOM Park in Bradenton on Tuesday to play the Pittsburgh Pirates. Top pitching prospect Casey Mize, the No. 1 overall pick from the 2018 draft, is scheduled to start. Spencer Torkelson — the No. 3 prospect in all of baseball — is expected to get at least one or two innings at first or third base.

Pittsburgh requested Tuesday’s game be trimmed from seven to five innings.

The pitching report

Right-hander Kyle Funkhouser started for the Tigers and needed 28 pitches (13 strikes) to escape the first inning. He allowed two walks, but threw his fastball around 93-94 mph.

The 26-year-old’s best pitch was a 94.7 mph sinker to Jay Bruce at the bottom corner of the strike zone, resulting in a strikeout looking.

“Really big pitch,” Funkhouser said. “A little bit rusty out there . ... (My stuff) was pretty good at times today, but the first time out, I was a little excited. A little bit rushed. I’ve been feeling a lot better in my mound work and my drill work. It’ll come along. I’m confident.”

The Tigers also sent to the mound Ethan DeCaster, Gregory Soto, Beau Burrows, Zack Hess, Andrew Moore and Jason Foley. DeCaster walked two batters (only had 15 walks in 731⁄3 innings in 2019), but he kept the Yankees off the scoreboard. Soto left a 97.4 mph sinker up in the zone for Gary Sanchez to pummel over the batter’s eye in center field.

A significant hint?

Robbie Grossman was the Tigers’ leadoff hitter and played left field. He worked a 3-2 count in the first inning — coming back from down 1-2 — and delivered a single to left field off three-time All-Star Gerrit Cole. Grossman’s career walk rate is 12.6% (last year’s league average was 9.2%), and his strikeout rate is 20.9%. And he is 12th in on-base percentage (.359) among American League hitters with at least 500 games since 2016.

Sounds like the makeup of a leadoff hitter in the Tigers’ new offense, which is supposed to emphasize working deeper into counts, limited strikeouts and increasing walks.

“Well, it started with Willi yesterday, so that one counts,” Hinch said. “Robbie’s going to hit there. I’ll have a couple of different guys hit there. We’ll see if you can guess it by the end of camp.”

Ramos homers

General manager Al Avila brought in catcher Wilson Ramos on a one-year, $2 million contract for one main reason: to hit consistently hit the baseball. In 2019, the 33-year-old hit .288 with 14 homers and 73 RBIs across 141 games.

Facing Jhoulys Chacin, Ramos blasted a first-pitch 90 mph sinker for a two-run homer to center field, giving the Tigers a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning.

Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.

The Red Wings start March strengthened by back-to-back victories and a power play that appears to have emerged from a staggering funk.

The past week ended on a downer but it featured more highlights than lowlights, and there were some especially encouraging performances from multiple players. The Wings went 2-2 in series against the Nashville Predators and Chicago Blackhawks, winning consecutive games for the first time this season.

Christian Djoos and Evgeny Svechnikov — neither of who was in the lineup opening night — scored power play goals in the weekend games against the Blackhawks, ending a drought that dated to Jan. 28 and had gone on for 40 man-advantage opportunities.

Svechnikov leads off this week’s stock watch, which, has more players rising than falling.

Stock up

Evgeny Svechnikov

It’s nice when good things happen to deserving people. Svechnikov, the Wings’ first-round pick in 2015, has endured testing times at the pro level, including sitting out 2018-19 recovering from knee surgery. He was waived in January, on the taxi squad since mid-February and didn’t get into the lineup until an injury to Dylan Larkin created an opening. Svechnikov, 24, came through with a goal and an assist in Saturday’s 5-3 victory at Chicago, and a second goal in Sunday’s 7-2 loss. He would seem to have earned the right to stay in the lineup, which puts him on course to realize his dream of playing against his brother, Andrei, when the Wings are at Carolina Thursday.

Sam Gagner

While Svechnikov is trying to establish a foothold in the NHL, Gagner is trying to regain one. He made a strong case with four goals in three games, including a hat trick. He’s on an expiring contract and could attract an offer around the trade deadline from a contender looking to boost secondary scoring (especially because he shoots right). Gagner, 31, fits in nicely as a stop-gap measure during the rebuild, a high-character veteran who provides leadership and pitches in offensively.

Jonathan Bernier

What a week he had, posting a .935 save percentage and 2.38 goals-against average with a 2-1 record. Bernier, 32, has emerged as the No. 1 goaltender, consistently coming up with saves to give his teammates a chance to win games. Overall, he’s been in net for six of the team’s seven victories. Bernier is another guy who could draw interest at the trade deadline, as he’s on an expiring contract. But if general manager Steve Yzerman parts with Bernier, it’d deprive the Wings of their steadiest goaltender. There’s nobody in the farm system ready for the NHL.

Filip Zadina

Zadina posted two assists and a plus-two rating in four games. His competition level has been top-notch, his work ethic on display nearly every shift. Injuries to Larkin and Robby Fabbri forced tweaks to the lines, and Zadina has looked very good playing with Gagner and Vladislav Namestnikov. Zadina, 21, probably isn’t happy with only six points in 17 games (he missed two weeks in COVID-19 protocol) but the lack of production isn’t worrisome given how hard he’s working. The points will come.

Stock down

Anthony Mantha

He has become a mainstay in this category, not ideal for a guy signed to four years, $22.8 million in November. Given how dominant he is when he really applies himself, Mantha should not be as quiet as he has been, with no points and a minus-4 rating over the past week. And it’s not like that was an aberration — he has no points his last eight games, and he has had a minus rating in five of those. After 23 games, Mantha has just five goals and four assists and a minus-13 rating. Yzerman could get offers for 6-foot-5, 234pound winger, but he might not get fair value.

Thomas Greiss

It’s easy in hindsight to contend coach Jeff Blashill should have rode the hot goalie and started Bernier again Sunday. But Greiss, 35, had to reappear at some point, and he didn’t impress. Could his teammates have done a better job in front of him? Absolutely. Did Greiss need to make more saves, especially in the third period when he allowed five goals on 10 shots? Ditto. It was his only appearance of the week, and the numbers were ugly: a .781 save percentage, a 7.00 GAA.